This invention relates to consumer blister packages and more particularly relates to consumer blister packages sealed with a dual laser-scored rupturable multilayered sheet.
Blister packages suitable for consumer use are well known. Conventionally, a consumer product is contained in a formed plastic bubble-shaped blister which is covered with a sheet of polymeric, foil, or foil laminated polymeric material. A consumer may remove the product from the blister package typically by peeling the cover sheet from the blister or pushing the product through the cover sheet by applying force to the blister. In order for a consumer to push a product through the cover sheet, the cover sheet must be either inherently rupturable (such as a thin metallic foil) or a portion of the cover sheet (typically a plastic or plastic laminate sheet) must be weakened such that when normal hand force is applied the product will break or rupture the cover sheet sufficiently to permit the product to pass through the cover sheet.
A method to produce a rupturable plastic sheet includes mechanically scoring the plastic sheet such that a score line or groove is marked onto the sheet without completely penetrating the sheet. Another method is to score the plastic sheet using a laser to produce a score line or groove, which acts to form a rupturable site on the plastic sheet. Typically, such a plastic sheet is a multilayered laminate in which a laser-scorable layer is laminated to a non-laser scorable material such as a metallic foil or non-laser scorable polymer. It is believed that when a laser-scored top layer laminated or bonded to a bottom non-laser-scorable layer is ruptured, the resulting ruptured flaps will tend to curl due to the differing characteristics of the two layers.
There is a consumer need for packages which can hold individual products in blister packages, which are clear to show the product, which are openable without excessive noise, and which do not use metal foil which may shred and form irregular opening flaps. Incorporation of foil into a package reduces or eliminates recyclability of the package.
There is a demand by marketers for blister packages on which printed information and graphics may be placed on a clear package and easily observable even after some of the products are removed.